Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons claims Boston police officers are secretly feeding information to federal immigration agents behind Mayor Michelle Wu's back, and he says the city's sanctuary policies are making streets less safe.
Lyons made the disclosure during a Wednesday appearance on the Howie Carr Show, the Boston-area conservative radio program, where he described a widening gap between the city's political leadership and the officers who patrol its neighborhoods. Wu has maintained Boston's sanctuary city status in open defiance of the Trump administration's demand that the city cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. But rank-and-file officers, Lyons said, are ignoring that directive on their own.
The acting ICE director's account paints a picture of a police force caught between a mayor who treats federal agents as adversaries and a federal government that wants local help removing criminal illegal immigrants from American communities. Officers are choosing sides, quietly.
Lyons: Officers fear retaliation but cooperate anyway
Lyons told Carr that Boston officers want to work with ICE but cannot do so openly under the city's current political climate. He framed the secret cooperation as widespread, extending beyond Boston to unnamed jurisdictions across the country.
"They can't cooperate openly out of fear of getting in trouble or getting fired. But they're helping us anyway."
He expanded on the claim, describing the cooperation as a matter of conviction among street-level officers who deal daily with the consequences of releasing criminal illegal immigrants back into neighborhoods.
"That's the issue we're seeing in so many jurisdictions. We have so many men and women on the Boston Police Department and other jurisdictions that are so pro-ICE, that want to work with us and that are actually helping us behind the scenes."
Lyons did not name specific officers or describe the exact nature of the information being shared. He offered no arrest numbers or case details tied to the alleged cooperation. His claims remain single-source, neither the Boston Police Department nor Mayor Wu's office has publicly responded to the specific allegation that officers are working with ICE behind the scenes.
The dynamic Lyons describes, local officers quietly siding with federal enforcement while their political leadership resists, reflects a tension playing out in cities across the country. In Newark, a Democratic mayor recently imposed a curfew after clashes between police and protesters over immigration detention, another flashpoint where city leadership and law enforcement have found themselves at odds.
Wu rejected federal ultimatum and compared ICE agents to neo-Nazis
Mayor Wu has positioned herself as one of the most vocal opponents of the Trump administration's immigration enforcement push. She publicly rejected Attorney General Pam Bondi's ultimatum to eliminate Boston's sanctuary city laws or face federal funding cuts, the New York Post reported.
Wu fired back at the administration publicly. "Stop attacking our cities to hide your administration's failures," she said. "Boston will not back down from who we are or what we stand for."
Wu has also publicly compared ICE agents to neo-Nazis and referred to them as Trump's "secret police." The exact language of those remarks, referenced but not directly quoted in Lyons' interview, has drawn sharp criticism from federal officials and law enforcement advocates who view the comparisons as reckless and demoralizing to agents carrying out lawful duties.
The hostility from Wu's office toward federal agents stands in contrast to what Lyons describes as enthusiasm from the officers who actually work Boston's streets. That gap, between a mayor who likens ICE to fascists and cops who quietly hand federal agents tips, is the core of Lyons' argument against sanctuary policies.
Tensions between local leadership and federal immigration enforcement have escalated in other cities too. In Newark, the FBI arrested a protester accused of threatening to kill an ICE officer's family at a detention center, a reminder that the political standoff over immigration enforcement carries real risks for the agents and officers involved.
ICE pledges a larger presence in sanctuary cities
Lyons made clear that Boston's defiance will not deter federal enforcement. He promised a visible increase in ICE operations in the city and across other sanctuary jurisdictions.
"We're definitely going to, as you've heard the saying, flood the zone, especially in sanctuary jurisdictions."
He drew a direct line between sanctuary status and public safety, rejecting the premise that shielding illegal immigrants from federal enforcement makes communities safer.
"Boston and Massachusetts decided to say that they wanted to stay sanctuary. Sanctuary does not mean safer streets. It means more criminal aliens out and about the neighborhood. But 100%, you will see a larger ICE presence."
Lyons also directed his argument at local political leaders, urging them to listen to the officers they employ rather than treating federal immigration law as optional. He said officers on the ground understand something their mayors refuse to acknowledge: that criminal illegal immigrants who are released instead of turned over to ICE end up cycling through the justice system and committing more crimes in the same neighborhoods.
"And that's what I think local leaders don't understand, is they need to talk to the men and women on the ground, because... there are so many of these criminal aliens that keep getting released to go out and commit more crimes that the local law enforcement have to deal with. We can take that violent criminal alien instantly out of the neighborhood."
Officers across the country face mounting pressure from both directions. Some, like the Ohio police sergeant recently killed responding to a 911 call, confront daily dangers that make the political posturing of city officials feel disconnected from the realities of the job.
Several key questions remain unanswered
Lyons' claims, while striking, rest entirely on his own statements. No Boston police officer has come forward publicly to confirm the secret cooperation. The Boston Police Department has not issued a statement addressing the allegation. Wu's office has not responded to the specific claim that her own officers are working around her sanctuary policies.
Lyons did not specify which "other jurisdictions" beyond Boston have officers cooperating with ICE behind the scenes. He provided no numbers, no count of cooperating officers, no tally of arrests resulting from the tips, no operational details that would allow independent verification.
The exact terms of Boston's sanctuary policies also remain vague in the public record as Lyons described them. He referenced the city's refusal to cooperate but did not cite a specific executive order, ordinance, or policy document by name. Boston has long maintained sanctuary protections, but the precise mechanisms that bar officers from working with ICE, and the consequences officers face if they do, were not detailed in Lyons' interview.
Boston itself has been in the news for other reasons. Homicide detectives recently investigated a body found at a rental property owned by the husband of Rep. Ayanna Pressley, a case that drew national attention to the city's law enforcement operations.
Still, the political logic of Lyons' disclosure is clear. By publicly stating that Boston officers are already cooperating with ICE, even under a mayor who calls federal agents neo-Nazis, he puts Wu in an awkward position. She can crack down on her own officers, confirming Lyons' claim that the city punishes cops for enforcing the law. Or she can ignore the claim, leaving the impression that her sanctuary policies are honored more in press conferences than on the street.
Law enforcement operations in major cities continue to draw scrutiny. The NYPD recently rescued dozens of trafficking victims during a nationwide crackdown, a reminder that federal-local cooperation produces results when political leaders allow it.
When the cops on the ground are choosing federal law over their own mayor's orders, the sanctuary policy is not a principle. It is a press release.
